Biden to take second crack at filling top gun official role

President Joe Biden is expected to announce a new nominee to lead the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives as early as this month, according to multiple people familiar with the White House’s planning.

Deliberations are ongoing but Steve Dettelbach, a former federal attorney for the Northern District of Ohio, is seriously being considered by the White House for the post, two of those people and one official within the Senate Democratic Caucus, told POLITICO.

After withdrawing the president’s first ATF nominee, David Chipman, in September, the White House is expected to pick someone who could have a smoother path to Senate confirmation. If Biden’s next nominee is able to secure 50 votes, it would be the first time the ATF has had a permanent director since 2015.

During an unsuccessful run for attorney general of Ohio in 2018, Dettelbach called for reinstating the assault weapons ban and universal background checks on gun purchases—two positions that have sparked GOP opposition to past nominees. A U.S. attorney from 2009 to 2016, he sought a return to that post last year. He has supporters in high places. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) has been pushing him as a nominee for ATF director, according to four people familiar with the conversations.

Brown’s office said the senator frequently advocates for qualified candidates for all positions, noting his support for Biden’s Supreme Court pick and federal reserve candidates. Brown’s office added that the senator is especially happy when those qualified nominees are Ohioans.

The current acting head of the bureau, Marvin Richardson, has also been raised as a possibility to be a formal nominee in discussions with the White House. But a person familiar with the process said Richardson is not under consideration for the permanent director job.

The person stressed that no decision has been made.

Dettelbach and Richardson’s names were the two most frequently mentioned by people in contact with the White House about the ATF post. Multiple people said that there are other candidates in addition to Dettelbach that are under consideration but no other names were given.

Multiple people said the White House was also eyeing National Police Week in mid May as a potential time to announce the new nominee. The White House declined to comment.

The ATF has only ever had one permanent director since the position became Senate confirmable in 2006 — a sign of the controversy surrounding the bureau. But Biden is poised to again wade into another congressional fight over a new ATF nominee, which could elevate gun policy as the midterms near. People in the gun control advocacy community say that they would welcome just that, along with additional executive actions on gun policy too.

“Biden campaigned on a promise to restructure the ATF and to focus on taking on rogue dealers and other dangerous sources of crime guns,” said John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Safety. “In order to deliver on that there's going to need to be strong ATF leadership.”

With gun homicides on the rise, the White House is facing renewed pressure to act. On Sunday, six people were killed and 12 others injured in a mass shooting in Sacramento, Calif. Biden has stressed the need for legislative responses and cited his push for more money for community violence prevention programs and community policing. But he put the onus on Congress to move legislative solutions.

Gun control groups are pressing Biden to consider additional executive orders, including gun restrictions and to declare gun violence a national emergency. Many of those groups have also urged the White House to appoint a gun violence prevention czar. Such actions, advocates argue, could help boost Biden’s standing with the party’s base. As the midterms near, Democrats are confronting a new set of warnings, including public and private polls showing them trailing or running even with Republicans on which party Americans most trust on gun policy.

Chipman, a former senior policy adviser for the gun-control group Giffords Law Center, had gained high praise and support from gun safety advocates and the majority of Democrats during his confirmation battle. But after three senators who caucus with Democrats voiced concerns, his nomination was withdrawn last September.

It was a setback for Biden and it drove a wedge between the White House and gun safety advocates, some of whom are still smarting over what they viewed as the administration’s lack of urgency to promote its nominee and lack of commitment to see him through the process.

Richardson, who has worked for the bureau for more than 30 years, is well known and liked by the agency's rank-and-file. If picked, he would have faced criticism from gun control advocacy groups who view him as too friendly with the gun industry.

Some gun control groups preemptively critiqued Richardson for his time in the acting role, pointing to his joint appearance on stage at a Las Vegas convention with Larry Keane, general counsel for the National Shooting Sports Foundation, who helped lead the charge against Chipman.

Po Murray, chair of the Newtown Action Alliance, which was founded after 26 people, including 20 children, were killed in a mass shooting in Connecticut, urged the White House to seek input from diverse crop of gun safety organizations as it narrows its list for ATF director.

“They don't engage with us to see what it is exactly that we would like with the ATF director. They haven't engaged us at all,” said Murray. “We believe that we need a new ATF director immediately, given that reducing crime is one of their priorities for the administration.”